Alonso Garcia (abt. 1618 - after 1683) Teresa Varela (abt. 1634 - after 1681)      Alonso García and his wife, Teresa Varela, were the parents of our ancestor, Juana García de Noriega [abt. 1658-after 1689], who married Antonio Domínguez de Mendoza [abt. 1648-abt. 1688]. We know this from Origins of New Mexico Families, by Fray Angélico Chavéz, pages 181-182.      Alonso was the son of Andrés García and Ana Francisca. He was born in Zacatecas, Mexico. The fact that his mother did not have a surname probably indicates that she was an Indian from the Zacatecas region. Somehow Alonso received a good education. He could read and write and express himself well.      His arrival in New Mexico in 1636 was as one of fifteen soldiers under the command of Captain Pedro Lucero, serving as an escort to a supply train from the interior of New Spain [Mexico]. Among this group were others of our ancestors: Lucas Montaño and Blas de Miranda. The soldiers were paid 300 pesos for this work, the captain, 400 pesos. Some genealogists question whether this was our Alonso because it would have made him in his early sixties at the time of the Pueblo Revolt, but the figures work for me. Some soldiers did not retire as young as others, especially in the higher ranks. Unless he was under eighteen in 1636, I place his date of birth at about 1618. This is by no means certain.      The young man proved an able soldier and rose through the ranks. By 1680, he was a lieutenant general, the number two man in New Mexico under Governor Antonio Otermín. The governor operated the Río Arriba [northern] District, and García the Río Abajo [southern] District.      About 1648 Alonso married Teresa Varela, the daughter of Pedro Varela de Losada and Ana Ortiz. She was a native of New Mexico. The couple had a large family, which was grown by 1680. Alonso owned the Estancia of San Antonio, twenty leagues [50 miles +/-] from Santa Fe in the Río Abajo. Their children assumed the surname García de Noriega, no doubt to honor a grandparent or another relative.      Alonso, at about age sixty-two, was nearing the end of his career. On the Feast day of San Lorenzo, August 10, the Pueblos throughout New Mexico rose to kill their Spanish masters and destroy the Catholic Church. Of the 2,900 Spaniards in New Mexico in 1680, fully three-fifths lived in the Río Abajo south of present-day Albuquerque. Uncertain of the loyalties of the southern more acculturated pueblos, the leaders of the Revolt did not include in their plot any pueblos south of Isleta. Not knowing of the fate of the Río Arriba district, Lt. Gov. García started north with some of his troops to see if they were needed to help the Arribeños [northerners]. On August 11, Luis Granillo, who had escaped from attacking Indians at Jemez, brought word that just before he had escaped from Jemez, an Indian had returned from the north bragging that Gov. Otermín and all Spaniards from Taos to Santo Domingo had been killed. Heartsick, having a son stationed at Galisteo, Alonso returned to the refugees of the Río Abajo at Socorro, New Mexico, and led the 1,500 Spaniards southward toward El Paso. [The Pueblo Revolt, by David Roberts, pp. 17, 26-27, 130-131].      Meanwhile Santa Fe lay under siege by the revolting Pueblos. At last, on August 21, the 1,000 exhausted Río Arriba refugees started their straggling retreat down the Rio Grande. On p. 19 of The Spanish Archives of New Mexico, Vol. II, is a statement of Governor Otermín about when he was passing through the Río Abajo country while retreating to Guadalupe del Paso [El Paso] during the Pueblo Revolt in August of 1680: ....From here we marched to the ranch of Doña Luisa de Trujillo, which is three leagues away, and wishing to swim across the river to gather a big herd of cattle on the opposite side of the river, on the ranch of the Lieutenant General Alonso García, we discovered that the enemy had arrived there first and gathered the cattle and drove away with them.      On reaching the Pueblo of La Alameda, Governor Otermín learned from the Indians that García and the retreating Abajeños had passed through there on their way to El Paso. He was furious that his Lt. Governor had not come to the rescue of the Arribeños at Santa Fe. It was not until September 6 that Otermín caught up with his lieutenant governor. In a rage he confronted García and had him imprisoned.      On page 21 of the same source, we find this statement of the situation by Otermín:      Immediately, on the same day, month, and year [6 Sept. 1680], his Excellency and the Governor and Captain-General ordered that the Maese del Campo, Alonso García, Lieutenant-general of that district composed of the Río Abajo, appear before them and show cause why, without any orders or cause whatever, he had marched out of the limits of his jurisdiction with a large body of men, having gone six leagues to a place called Fray Cristóbal, where he was detained by four men sent to arrest their march and return to the pueblo of Senecú, which is the last of that jurisdiction [the most southerly], and turn over a few horses for the use of this army; that the two bodies of the army be incorporated and determine on the best method of procedure in the defense of the kingdom. On account of not having encountered the Lieutenant General before, and that he be investigated and made to state why and by whose orders he had abandoned his district and thinking he was spending his time at the pueblo of Isleta, I hereby ordain that he be arrested and that complaint be filed against him and that he be deprived of the right to leave this district until his case has been adjudicated. As a further requirement I had him write his reply at the foot of this order; before me, the Secretary of Government and War, Don Antonio de Otermín; before me, Francisco Xavier, Secretary of Government and War [our ancestor].       Otermín had his Maese de Campo, Alonso, placed under arrest and a court-martial held. On the following pages, 22-23, Alonso’s actions are explained by Francisco Xavier, who had interviewed him. The explanation put Alonso back in Governor Otermin’s good graces. He is mentioned continuously in the book until page 73, when he is no longer mentioned in the Archives. He probably retired about that time, March 1683.      On the said day, month, and year, I, [Francisco Xavier] the secretary of the Government and War, by the authority upon me conferred by the Governor and Captain-General, and in the presence of two witnesses, namely: The Sargento Mayor, Luis de Quintana [no close relative of ours as far as we know] and Captain Francisco Xavier, served the complaint aforesaid upon the defendant, the Maestre de Campo, Alonso García, in person, who answering the same, said: That when he heard of the general uprising, he had on the same day sent to inquire where his help was needed of the Lieutenant-General, Luis Granillo [a kinsman of ours], Alcalde of the district of Xemes [Jemez], who, with a soldier named Joaquin de Bonilla and two priests, were in the pueblo surrounded by the hostile Indians. The Indians had made known their intention to rebel, and, in fact, had already taken up arms. The rumor was current that the Governor and Captain-General [Otermín] had been killed and this news had incensed the hostiles to spilling more blood. They sought the Alcalde, the soldiers, and two priests in order to wreak vengeance upon them for the death of an Indian, who supposedly had been killed by one of their number. The defendant [Alonso García] and eight men went to lend their aid to the said Alcalde [Granillo] and his companions and met them as they were retreating from the pueblo, pursued by the hostile Indians. The prompt arrival of the defendant upon the scene had prevented the slaughter of the said Alcalde and the inhabitants of the pueblo by the Indians as well as the Religious [priests] of Zia and the people of that district.      Before nightfall the news was brought that in the pueblo of Santo Domingo three Religious and four Spaniards had been killed, and he [García] immediately started out to reconnoiter his district and ascertain if this was true, and found that Captain Agustín de Carbajal, wife and family, as also the Sargento Mayor, Cristobal de Anaya, his wife and three sons, two soldiers and two other persons had been murdered by the Indians. [Both were families of our Domínguez de Mendoza aunts.] On the road from Santo Domingo to San Felipe, they found six men murdered and heard generally that the same fate had overtaken the Governor and Captain-General, the people in the Villa [of Santa Fe] and all the Spaniards from the pueblo of Zandia [Sandía] to Taos, which is the most populated district in this kingdom.      He [García] immediately gathered his horses and barricaded himself and six sons at the ranch, which was surrounded by Indians, and kept guard through the night. He remained there two days when he received notice that the Religious and people were leaving that district.      As a loyal subject of His Majesty he never wished to forsake the cause, but, on the contrary, offered aid to His Excellency; his efforts to reach him, however, were futile, as every road was infested by the enemy. Three messages sent by His Excellency never reached him, and notwithstanding the fact that the fact that the Religious and people were leaving the kingdom, abandoning their homes and fields, he [García] called meetings and tried to induce the people to refrain from leaving until the truth was known as to His Excellency’s fate, which he was unable to learn, as shown by the record on two written sheets and one blank, which he offers and asks that the same be placed in the proceedings of this investigation.      That when he heard His Excellency was coming he immediately marched out to meet him and to offer horses and his services to him; that he has always served His Majesty loyally and has contributed one hundred horses, his six sons, and all his earthly possessions to the cause; that he has been present in many conflicts with the Indians and has sacrificed his own personal interests in behalf of the army, which is generally known.      For which reasons and for his readiness to serve His Majesty when called upon, he asks His Excellency to grant him his liberty and that the complaint against him be annulled. He signed this, his answer, in my presence and in the presence of witnesses. Alonso García                                                                             Francisco Xavier, Secretary of Government and War      On pages 24-26, was a personal answer to the charges against him from Alonso to the Governor:      At the pueblo of Isleta on the 14th day of August, 1680 [four days after the massacre began], the Maestre de Campo, Alonso García, lieutenant-governor and captain-general of the district consisting of the the lower Río del Norte [Río Grande], by appointment of Don Antonio Otermín, governor and captain-genral of the Provinces of New Mexico, and I, the said lieutenant-general, state that on Sunday, the 11th day of August, there came a resident from the district of Zandia [Sandía], who was escaping with his family from the Indians, who had entered a pact to kill all the priests and inhabitants of that district. In fact, they had already murdered, at the pueblo of San Domingo, on the day of San Lorenzo, the Rev. Fr. Juan de Talabán; and Fr. Francisco Antonio de Lorenzana, Guardian of the Convent; and also the Rev. Preacher, Fr. José Monts de Oca; the Sargento Mayor, Andres de Peralta, alcalde and war captain of said pueblo; Alférez Estevan Barcea; Nicolás López; José de Guadarrama; and his wife.      The Indians were led by their chief, Alonso Catití [our half-breed uncle, son of our ancestor Diego Márquez and a San Domingo Pueblo woman]. The following day the Indians killed Captain Agustín de Carvajal and Doña Damiana de Mendoza, his wife [our aunt] and all their family; the Sargento Mayor, Cristóbal de Anaya and Doña Leonor de Mendoza [also our aunt], his wife, and all their family.      Then continued their outrages in the pueblo of Xemes [Jemez], but fortunately, the Rev. Father Francisco Muñoz; the Sargento Mayor, Luis Granillo [nephew of our ancestor María de Morál Granillo], alcalde; and three soldiers escaped by fighting their way out of the pueblo. However, they were followed by the Indians until they came to the pueblo of Cia [Zía], and, if I had not interposed at this juncture, the Rev. Father Francisco Muñoz; the Sargento Mayor, Luis Granillo; and the three soldiers would undoubtedly have been killed.      Here [at Zía] we found the Rev. Fr. Nicolás de Hurtado, Guardian of said pueblo of Cia, and after concluding that our forces were too small to combat so large a number of Indians, I asked the Rev. Fr. Nicolás de Hurtado to leave the pueblo, which he reluctantly did.      As we left the pueblo, the Indians mockingly rang the bells and scoffed at us; and we understood that the governor and captain-general, Don Antonio de Otermín, was dead. He was supposed to have made a last stand at his residence, in which were also the Rev. Fr. Francisco Gómez de la Cadena, Rev. Fr. Juan Pío, and the Very Rev. Fr. Juan Bernal.      The Maese de Campo, Juan Domínguez Mendoza [our uncle] expressed himself, saying that it was his opinion that we should march away in good military order until the wagons, which bring the supplies, are met, and after supplying the army with the necessary ammunition, we return to ascertain the truth of the reports emanating from the Villa [Santa Fe] and then notify His Majesty through the viceroy.      The Sargento Mayor, Pedro Durán [husband of our aunt, Elena Domínguez de Mendoza]; Sargento Mayor, Antonio de Salazar; Sargento Mayor Luis Granillo [our cousin] Sargento Mayor Cristóbal Henríquez; Captain Juan Luis; Captain Don Fernando de Cháves; Captain Felipe Romero; Captain Ignacio Baca [our uncle], and all of the captains and soldiers assented to the expressions of the Maese de Campo, Juan Domínguez de Mendoza, agreeing thus, before a combination could be made with all the hostile Apaches who are at war with us. Signed by all present.      Having considered the unanimous opinion of the Maestre de Campo, sargentos mayores, captains, and soldiers signed herein, I, Alonso García, Maese de Campo, Lieutenant of the governor and captain general, for the safety of the few families which are remaining and the small supply of ammunition on hand, which consists only of that carried in our pockets, and there are many that have not even that, and owing to the scarcity of arms, having been robbed by the Indians of more than 150 harquebuses, of 120 who were killed with all their arms and horses of a very considerable quantity, horses and cattle sufficient to sustain the Apaches for a period of more than four months and the possibility of being besieged in this pueblo of Isleta, where we have supplies sufficient for not even one day; and after due consideration of the facts in a matter of such gravity, do order that we ask the opinion in this regard of the Rev. PP. Definers, and the Rev. Procurador Fr. Francisco Muñoz, Fr. Nicolás Hurtado, the Rev. Preacher Fr. Tomás de Tobalina, Rev. Guardian Fr. Tomás de Zabaleta, the Rev. Preacher Diego Parraga, the Rev. Preacher Fr. Antonio de Guerra, and the Rev. Preacher Fr. José Bonilla, who, as wise and zealous priests, may state what should be done. I appointed the sargento mayor, Don Pedro Durán [husb. of our aunt, Elena Domínguez Mendoza], to present this request to them, who signed as witnesses of my attendance; and they signed with me. Alonso García Pedro Durán Pedro Márquez [our cousin]      At said camping place, on the said day, month, and year [14 Aug. 1680], the Maestre de Campo, Juan Domínguez de Mendoza [our uncle] said: that he concurred in the opinion of Maestre de Campo, Tomé Domínguez de Mendoza [II, also our uncle], for the reason that it best suits the service of both Majesties, and signed it with his name with the said Lieutenant-general [Alonso García] and accompanying witnesses. Alonso García Juan Domínguez de Mendoza Luis Granillo [our cousin] Ambrosio Jorge. Among those killed in the revolt was Lázaro García de Noriega, a son of Alonso and Teresa. He was killed at Gallisteo Pueblo southeast of Santa Fe. Since Lázaro’s family was not killed, he was probably stationed at Gallisteo as a soldier while they were living elsewhere. On page 49 of The Spanish Archives of New Mexico,Vol. II, is a muster list of the troops at La Salineta on 29 September 1681. The troops were in a sad state after surviving the Revolt. Alonso still held all of his old titles. He was ill in bed at the time of muster, but said he was ready for Otermín’s planned campaign to reconquer New Mexico. He was described then as fifty-four years old, a native of Zacatecas, having a good physique, partly-gray hair, protruding eyes, and an aquiline face. He stated that he was married, owned eighty horses and five lean mules suffering from lock-jaw and worn out by service. He had three sons and two sons-in-law, all with their personal arms, supplied by Alonso. Two sons and his sons-in-law were married and had twelve persons in their families and twenty-two [Indian] servants [slaves] and another young man capable of bearing arms. Alonso carried a royal harquebus and stated that he had been robbed by the enemy Pueblos. [If Alonso knew and stated his correct age, he was born about 1627, but almost no one knew his/her exact age. I believe he was sixty-three at the time. Perhaps he lied to be able to keep working.] Our last record of Alonso is March 6-24, 1683, on page 73 of SANM, Vol.II. At El Paso del Norte at both Guadalupe del Paso and San Lorenzo, he was involved in conducting the trial of Francisco Gutiérrez, Juan de Diós Lucero, and Diego Varela for killing a Janos Indian. We have no record of Teresa Varela after 1681. CHILDREN OF ALONSO GARCÍA AND TERESA VARELA [1] Juana García de Noriega, our ancestor, was born about 1658 in New Mexico. She was about twenty-two when she and her husband, Antonio Domínguez de Mendoza, fled the Pueblo Revolt in 1680. They had small children at the time. Two of Antonio’s brothers, Tomé II and Juan held high ranks in the army of New Mexico. Antonio requested permission to leave New Mexico in 1684 to join some of his family in the interior of New Spain, but he was denied. He died about 1688. Most of their descendants returned to New Mexico. [2] Alonso García de Noriega II was born about 1649 in New Mexico. Like his father, he was a soldier in the New Mexican army. He was married to Ana Jorge de Vera. In 1681 on the muster list taken at Guadalupe del Paso [El Paso], he was described as swarthy, pock-marked, with a large nose and long, straight hair. He said he was thirty years old. In the 1682 Otermín campaign to reconquer New Mexico, he served as alférez. [Not to be confused with an Alonso García de Gracia, who also served] After Ana’s death he married Luisa Godines about 1694. About 1696, while on the El Camino Real between El Paso and Santa Fe at the Paraje del Agua Escondida, he was wounded by an Apache arrow and died soon afterwards at home at Sevilleta, about twenty miles north of Socorro, New Mexico. A son of his, Tomás, was a soldier in the founding of Albuquerque. [3] Josepha Ana García de Noriega was born in the Sandía district of New Mexico about 1654. She was married to Alonso Rael de Aguilar [14 Feb. 1661-10 April 1735] on 24 October 1683 at Guadalupe del Paso [El Paso]. She died in Santa Fe, New Mexico, 12 August 1735, the same year as her husband. She was probably buried at the Conquistadora Chapel in Santa Fe as her husband was. Alonso was very prominent and held many offices. [pp. 263-264, ONMF, Revised Ed.] [4] Francisco García de Noriega was born about 1654 in New Mexico; no information. [5] Lázaro García de Noriega was born about 1655 in New Mexico. He had a son, Francisco García de Noriega, with Nicolasa Varela Jaramillo. He was a soldier stationed at Galisteo on 10 August 1680, when the Pueblo Indians killed him and most others there. His son Francisco was a soldier in the founding of Albuquerque in 1706. Francisco was buried in Albuquerque, 15 April 1746, at the age of sixty-nine. Probably another son of Lázaro was a Juan García de Noriega, called “El Cojo,” who did not know who his parents were when, on 17 May 1705, at age twenty-six, he married María de la Vega Carpio, 16, in Santa Fe. He would have been an infant when his father was killed in the Revolt. [6] Tomás García de Noriega was born about 1756. He is easily confused with another older Tomás who was probably an uncle and a younger Tomás who was a son or nephew. So I leave out the information. One Tomás was a soldier at the founding of Albuquerque in 1706. [7] Juan García de Noriega was born about 1658 in New Mexico. This Juan García married only once, to Francisca Sánchez de Yñigo. In the original edition of Origin of New Mexico Families, by Fray Angélico Chávez, on pp. 34 & 181, information on this Juan was merged with information on another Juan García from Zacatecas, who was married to Margarita Márquez and lived in Santa Fe. In the Revised Edition on pages 357-358, the error is corrected. Juan and Francisca were married on 4 May 1681 at Guadalupe del Paso [El Paso] The other Juan, since he came from Zacatecas and was probably born about 1760, may have been a first cousin. Our subject Juan remained in El Paso and did not return to New Mexico after the Reconquest in 1693. Submitted by Donald Rivara, June 23, 2009. Copyright © Genealogy Trails All Rights Reserved with Full Rights Reserved for Original Contributor